Preceptors' and preceptees' views on student nurses' clinical accompaniment in Botswana

Abstract

An alternative nursing education system was adopted by Botswana to improve its clinical nursing education, employing preceptorship as a clinical teaching approach. Myrick (2002:154) states that although preceptorship is increasingly being used in practice settings, little is known about how preceptors teach and even less is known about how preceptorship relationships are fostered. The same situation prevails in Botswana and needed to be explored with a view to promote and facilitate clinical learning for students. This study sought to describe the views of preceptors and their preceptees regarding the role of the preceptor on the planning of learning activities during clinical accompaniment of student nurses in Botswana. Recommendations were described for preceptors on planning learning activities of preceptees in clinical nursing practice situations. This non-experimental, exploratory descriptive quantitative study sought to describe the role of the preceptor in selected clinical practice settings. A population of seven nursing education institutions were included. A convenient sample was selected that included 72 preceptors and 200 students / preceptees who agreed to participate in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were analysed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that preceptors should focus more on identifying the learning needs of the students, hold planning sessions with students to determine these needs and have time to schedule learning activities. Preceptors need to focus on their professional role to provide reality based, skills-oriented learning opportunities in the unit for preceptees during clinical accompaniment. The preceptor's role demands examining how learning activities should be planned so that the preceptees achieve their own learning objectives and those of the unit concerned.